miR-203 controls timing of developmental transitions during early preimplantation embryogenesis

Commonly expressed at developmental transitions, microRNAs operate as fine tuners of gene expression to facilitate cell fate acquisition and lineage segregation. Nevertheless, how they might regulate the earliest developmental transitions in early mammalian embryogenesis remains obscure. Here, in a strictly in vivo approach based on novel genetically-engineered mouse models and single-cell RNA sequencing, we identify miR-203 as a critical regulator of timing and cell fate restriction within the totipotency to pluripotency transition in mouse embryos. Genetically engineered mouse models show that loss of miR-203 slows down developmental timing during preimplantation leading to the accumulation of embryos with high expression of totipotency-associated markers, including MERVL endogenous retroviral elements. A new embryonic reporter (eE-Reporter) transgenic mouse carrying MERVL-Tomato and Sox2-GFP transgenes showed that lack of miR-203 leads to sustained expression of MERVL and reduced Sox2 expression in preimplantation developmental stages. A combination of single-cell transcriptional studies and epigenetic analyses identified the central coactivator and histone acetyltransferase P300 as a major miR-203 target at the totipotency to pluripotency transition in vivo. By fine tuning P300 levels, miR-203 carves the epigenetic rewiring process needed for this developmental transition, allowing a timely and correctly paced development.